Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Ontario Reign

Published on February 22, 2013 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


DATE: Friday, February 22, 2013

TIME: 7:00 p.m.

SITE: Citizens Business Bank Arena

RADIO: 1280 AM KWSX/StocktonThunder.com (AmericaOne)

NHL AFFILIATES

Stockton Thunder: Edmonton Oilers

Ontario Reign: Los Angeles Kings

NEXT HOME GAME

Sunday, Feb. 24 vs. Ontario Reign (4:00 p.m.)

PUCK/FAMILY DAY (Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, Farmers Insurance Company, 99.3 KJOY, Angelina's Italian Cuisine, and 97.7/98.3 KWIN)

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

On the cusp of clinching a Kelly Cup Playoff berth, the Thunder returns to play tonight at Ontario for its third game in three days. The Thunder is 2-2-1 in the season series and last faced the Reign on Wednesday in a 4-1 loss at Citizens Business Bank Arena. The Thunder leads the all-time series over Ontario with a record of 25-15-6. Last night, the Thunder traveled north to Bakersfield and beat the Condors 4-1 at Rabobank Arena. The Thunder is in the middle of facing Ontario five times in six games. The Thunder has a "magic number" of four points to secure a tie for a playoff berth.

2012-13 Head to Head Schedule: (2-2-1)

Fri. Oct. 12 Ontario 2 at Stockton 1

Sat. Oct. 13 Stockton 4 at Ontario 0

Fri. Nov. 30 Stockton 4 at Ontario 5 (OT)

Fri. Feb. 15 Ontario 1 at Stockton 2 (OT)

Wed. Feb. 20 Stockton 1 at Ontario 4

Fri. Feb. 22 at Ontario 7:00 p.m.

Sun. Feb. 24 Ontario 4:00 p.m.

Sat. Mar. 2 at Ontario 6:00 p.m.

Sun. Mar. 3 Ontario 4:00 p.m.

Sun. Mar. 10 Ontario 4:00 p.m.

Fri. Mar. 15 at Ontario 7:00 p.m.

Sat. Mar. 16 Ontario 7:30 p.m.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT

The Thunder is 14-3-3 when leading after one period this season.

LAST THREE GAMES:

STK 4 - BAK 1 (2/21/13): Goaltender Olivier Roy made 38 saves and the Stockton Thunder (28-21-9, 65 points) never trailed, using three unanswered goals to sink the Bakersfield Condors in a 4-1 victory before 8,023 fans at Rabobank Arena on Thursday. Shawn Weller earned his first goal with the Thunder while Matt Bergland, Tony DeHart and Matt Reber also netted goals in the second and third period.

ONT 4 - STK 1 (2/20/13): The Ontario Reign used three goals in the third period to stop a rally by the Stockton Thunder (27-21-9, 63 points) and skate away in a 4-1 win before a crowd of 5,591 at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Wednesday. The Thunder fell to 1-1-0 on its four game road trip and got on the board in the third period with a key goal by Matt Bergland. The Reign, who countered 13 seconds later and buried the game's two final goals, never looked back and got 21 saves by Dusty Carlson in net.

STK 3 - SF 1 (2/17/13): Goaltender Tyler Bunz made 26 saves for his first win since Jan. 5 and the Stockton Thunder (27-20-9, 63 points) used a pair of second period goals to sink the San Francisco Bulls in a 3-1 victory before 4,123 fans at the Cow Palace on Sunday. The win gave the Thunder their first three-game win streak since late November and meant their first win at the Cow Palace this season.

UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Maxime Boisclair is 1 point away from 100 in his ECHL career

- Garet Hunt is 3 points away from 100 in his ECHL career

- Shawn Weller is 15 games away from 100 in his ECHL career

ARCOBELLO MAKES IT NINE

On Feb. 6, former Thunder forward Mark Arcobello became the ninth player to make his debut in the National Hockey League after appearing in a Thunder uniform (2010-11). Arcobello suited up for the Edmonton Oilers in a game at Rexall Place against the Dallas Stars and recorded two blocked shots. Before his debut, Arcobello had 39 points in 43 American Hockey League games with the Oklahoma City Barons. He earned 20 points in 33 games with the Thunder and was named Most Valuable Player of the 2011 ECHL All-Star Classic in Bakersfield as a representative of Stockton. He had a hat trick and became the eighth player in All-Star Classic history to score at least three goals in one game.

Those to play in Stockton and then make their debut in the NHL are:

- (C) Mark Arcobello

- (RW) Troy Bodie

- (G) Devan Dubnyk

- (C) Milan Kytnar

- (RW) Colin McDonald

- (C) Ryan O'Marra

- (C) Tim Sestito

- (LW) Liam Reddox

- (D) Bryan Young

BACK (TO BACK) AT IT AGAIN

The Thunder plays in several games this season featuring back-to-back or "three-in-three" scenarios. When faced with their second game or third game in as many days, the Thunder has a record of 14-7-4 this season. They played last evening Bakersfield, beating the Condors 4-1 which followed a up a 4-1 defeat in Ontario on Wednesday.

HELLO (AGAIN)

The Thunder was boosted by recent additions to their lineup with goaltender Olivier Roy and defenseman Brandon Davidson assigned to the team from Oklahoma City on last Tuesday. Roy was named Thunder "Rookie of the Year" last season when he broke the team record with four shutouts. Davidson, an Oilers sixth round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, had a career high 13 goals in 69 games last season with Regina (WHL) and added 49 points (3rd in team scoring), earning a selection on the WHL Second All-Star Team (Eastern Conference).

HOME SWEET HOME

The Thunder has made Stockton Arena ideal for home ice advantage this season with a record of 17-7-3. Below is a look at key figures for the Thunder at home this season:

At home this season, the Thunder has:

- A record of 17-7-3

- Totaled 11 games of scoring four goals or more

- Outshot the opposition 14 times this season

- Posted 19 games of 30 shots on goal or more

- Collected at least one power play goal in 15 of the last 17 games

THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST

During the month of February, the Thunder defense has limited opponents to three goals or less in each of the six games featuring a win or shootout loss (Feb. 9 at Alaska - 3-2 shootout loss). The Thunder defense allowed just one goal or less in four of the previous five games.

TO THE MAX

Thunder forward Maxime Boisclair has picked up 12 points in 15 games since joining the Thunder as a signed free agent. Boisclair has five goals in 2012-13. He was named an ECHL All-Star as a member of the Eastern Conference team in 2006-07.

NO LITTLE ACCOMPLISHMENT

Thunder defenseman Mike Little played in his 100th career ECHL game on Dec. 27 at Bakersfield and helped out offensively with an assist in a 4-2 Thunder win. Little was named to the ECHL All-Rookie Team last season and was the first selection in Thunder history. Little also played in his 100th career Thunder game Jan. 9 at Colorado.

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

Garet Hunt was named the sixth captain in Thunder history on Oct. 12, taking the "C" for the first time in his career for full-time duty. Hunt served as an alternate captain for the Thunder last season and has helped guide the team to the playoffs for four straight seasons since his 2008-09 rookie campaign. Hunt is the Thunder all-time leader with 302 games played.

2012-13 MEDIA GUIDE AVAILABLE ONLINE

The Stockton Thunder 2012-13 media guide is available online in .pdf form at http://www.stocktonthunder.com/team/history/. The guide can be accessed by following the link and clicking "2012-2013 Media Guide."

PLAYOFF NOTES

ECHL WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF STANDINGS

(Top-8 in the conference qualify for Kelly Cup playoffs)

Rank Western Conference GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 SO

1 x * - Alaska Aces 55 38 11 2 4 82 0.745 182 137 7-0-2-2 6-0-2-2 4-4

2 x * - Ontario Reign 54 36 13 3 2 77 0.713 196 149 1-0-0-0 5-3-2-0 6-2

3 x Idaho Steelheads 54 34 15 1 4 73 0.676 209 159 2-0-0-0 6-4-0-0 2-4

4 Stockton Thunder 58 28 21 5 4 65 0.560 182 179 1-0-0-0 5-4-0-1 1-4

5 Las Vegas Wranglers 53 27 21 2 3 59 0.557 153 148 0-2-0-0 8-2-0-0 5-3

6 Colorado Eagles 52 25 24 1 2 53 0.510 178 167 1-0-0-0 5-5-0-0 3-2

7 Utah Grizzlies 52 20 25 3 4 47 0.452 160 208 0-3-0-0 3-6-1-0 4-4

8 San Francisco Bulls 53 19 27 1 6 45 0.425 146 191 0-2-0-0 2-6-0-2 1-6

9 Bakersfield Condors 58 18 35 2 3 41 0.353 146 207 0-1-0-0 5-4-0-1 6-3

* Division leader

x Teams who have clinched a playoff spot.

y Teams who have clinched the division title

z Team who has clinched the conference title, 1st round bye

2013 Playoff March Notes -

- The Thunder has 14 regular season games remaining and a magic number of 4 points to clinch a playoff berth.

- Stockton has regular season games remaining against the following teams:

- Bakersfield (1)

- Ontario (7)

- Las Vegas (2)

- San Francisco (3)

- Idaho (1)

- In the Western Conference, postseason berths will be awarded to the first-place team in each division and the next six teams in the conference, based on points . The division winners will be seeded first and second and will play the eighth-place finisher and the seventh-place finisher, respectively, while the third-place finisher will meet the sixth-place finisher and the fourth-place finisher will meet the fifth-place finisher. The conference semifinals will have the winner of the first-place and eighth-place matchup playing the winner of the fourth-place and fifth-place game while the winner of the second-place and seventh-place game will face the winner of the third-place and sixth-place matchup.

- IF THE KELLY CUP PLAYOFFS BEGAN TODAY: the Thunder would face the Las Vegas Wranglers in the Western Conference Quarterfinal.

- Currently, 69 points guarantees a playoff spot as the 9th place Bakersfield Condors can only amass 69 points this season. The Thunder owns the tie-breaker over Bakersfield for a playoff spot.

- The Thunder is two wins away from surpassing the 30-win plateau for the sixth time in club history (previously 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12)

- TIE-BREAKER: The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if two teams tie will be: 1. Wins, regular season (excluding shootout wins); 2. Goal differential; 3. Points, head-to-head (for two teams that have not played the same number of home games against the other tied team, the first game(s) played in the city that has the extra home game(s) shall not be included) ; 4. Winning percentage, division (if tied teams are from same division; if not, skip to 5); 5. Winning percentage, conference; 6. Goals for, regular season; 7. Goals against, regular season; 8. Coin toss

The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if three teams are tied will be: 1. Wins, regular season (excluding shootout wins); 2. Goal differential ; 3. Higher winning percentage earned in games against each other (for two teams that have not played the same number of home games against the other tied team, the first game(s) played in the city that has the extra home game(s) shall not be included) ; 4. Winning percentage, division; 5. Winning percentage, conference; 6. Goals for, regular season; 7. Goals against, regular season; 8. Coin toss . When two teams remain after the third or other teams are eliminated during any step above, the tiebreaker reverts to Step 1 of the two-team format.

- Last season, the Thunder clinched its sixth straight Kelly Cup Playoff berth with the 5th seed in the Western Conference and a 34-33-5 record (73 points)

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